"One ad for baby formula showed a little girl growing up to be a ballerina and a little boy becoming a mathematician. Another ad, for a weight-loss drink, asked if viewers were “beach body ready” and showed a bikini-wearing woman whose bronzed image, critics said, promoted an unrealistic standard of beauty. A third ad, for the video game “Game of War,” showed actress Kate Upton scantily dressed on a horse, making it seem as if sexual desirability were a prerequisite for leadership. Britain’s advertising regulator, reacting to these ads and similar ones, announced Tuesday that new rules would be developed to ban advertising that promotes gender stereotypes or denigrates people who do not conform to them; sexually objectifies women; or promotes unhealthy body images."Good luck reigning in the sexualization in advertising. Maybe you should clean up the BBC and MP pedophiles first. Of course, that is why there is such sexualization in advertising and other social art forms. You won't notice anyway, not with your nose to the grindstone:

LONDON — Earlier than planned, the United Kingdom will raise the age at which citizens can claim the state pension to 68 as the government grapples with the mounting costs of an aging population.

“We could have put this off, we could have failed to address it, we could have kicked it into the long grass, but it’s important to the future of this country that we have a government willing to take these long-term decisions,” the Work and Pensions secretary, David Gaukem, told the House of Commons Wednesday.

The change reflects changing demographics: A rising proportion of the population is old enough to claim a pension, and retirees are living longer.What are the world's leaders and their puppet-masters going to do with us all?

The announcement also underlines the weakness of Prime Minister Theresa May after her Conservative Party’s catastrophic result in last month’s snap general election.

She had hoped to reduce the cost of state pensions with a pledge to scrap the so-called triple lock, which guaranteed relatively generous annual increases. But after losing her majority, May cut a deal to secure the support of the 10 lawmakers from the Democratic Unionist Party, which insisted she drop the measure.....Opens the door for Corbyn and Labor next time around.

LONDON — Prosecutors said a British police helicopter crew filmed people having sex and sunbathing naked.And they are worried about what's on TV?

The police are accused of using the aircraft’s powerful video camera to film members of the public.

Prosecutor Richard Wright said Tuesday that the filming was a ‘‘gross violation’’ of the victims’ privacy.

Wright said the public has a right to hope that police helicopters are being used to keep communities safe, not to film sex acts from the air.But? Public has a right to demand this not be done, no? Not just "hope," as the elite pre$$ puts it. That makes it look like fascist tyranny in Britain, and we all know it could never happen there.

The case against five men in Sheffield Crown Court relies in part on a graphic, eight-minute film consisting of footage from the South Yorkshire Police helicopter.

One police officer, 50-year-old Adrian Pogmore, has pleaded guilty to misconduct. Four other men deny the charges.

Prosecutors say the couple filmed having sex were friends of Pogmore.So it was cop humor!

"The publicly funded BBC was forced to publish the names and salaries of its highest-earning actors and presenters Wednesday, unleashing a national debate about fame, gender, race and the use of taxpayers’ money. The list shows that the BBC pays 96 on-air personalities at least 150,000 pounds ($195,000) a year — meaning most earn more than the prime minister, who gets 150,000 pounds. The broadcaster’s best-paid star, radio host Chris Evans, earns more than 2.2 million pounds ($2.9 million). The BBC was compelled by Britain’s government to publish the salaries of on-air talent, which had previously been secret."

Britain resumes talks over departing EU
"Former Prime Minister Tony Blair says there’s a chance Britain won’t leave the European Union — and stopping Brexit is necessary to avoid severe economic damage. In an article published Saturday by Blair’s Institute for Global Change, he wrote that EU leaders might be willing to ‘‘reform and meet us half way’’ to keep the UK in the bloc. Blair noted that British economic growth has slowed and the value of the pound has dropped since the referendum (AP)."He's like a bad penny. Keeps turning up.

"A federal grand jury in Hawaii indicted a US soldier for attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State. Army Sergeant First Class Ikaika Kang was arrested by an FBI team on July 8. Kang was ordered held without bail Friday, and will be arraigned in federal court Monday. His court-appointed attorney, Birney Bervar, said his client will plead not guilty and may undergo a mental health evaluation."He was set-up by FBI instigators, like all these plots they are saving us from, and that merges into this:

Federal prosecutors allege Amer Sinan Alhaggagi ‘‘went so far as to meet with undercover agents on multiple occasions to plan a potential terrorist attack,’’ said a court filing unsealed Friday. Alhaggagi, an Oakland, California, resident, has been in custody since November on unrelated identity-theft charges.

"A Hawaiin father, mother, and grandmother have been charged with murder after allegedly starving a 9-year-old girl. Police on Friday arrested Kevin Lehano, 49, Tiffany Stone, 33 — the parents of the victim — and Henrietta Stone, 59, her grandmother. They are accused of denying her food, water, and medical care (AP)."That's torture, and thankfully the government force feeds terrorists who fast.Breaking from campaign rhetoric, Trump brings terrorism suspect to US for trial

He backed off its position that terrorism suspects should be sent to the naval prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and that can only be an encouraging sign.

WALTHAM — A massive fire that destroyed a luxury apartment complex under construction in downtown Waltham early Sunday morning was the second Boston-area blaze in a month to ravage a new project built with an increasingly popular method — using almost entirely wood.

Firefighters from across Greater Boston on Sunday morning battled the eight-alarm inferno at the construction site between Elm and Cooper streets, their efforts hampered by winds. Five buildings in the complex collapsed, explosions ripped the air, and ash and embers rained down on the streets.

The Waltham fire comes after a similar apartment building burned in a major fire in the Ashmont section of Dorchester.Makes you want to cry, doesn't it?

In both cases, the buildings were constructed using wood frames, according to Waltham Fire Chief Paul Ciccone — a practice that is increasingly used to save on costs despite growing concerns nationally about fires breaking out during construction of such complexes.....

A severe thunderstorm struck a nearby remote area that had been burned by a recent wildfire.

"Five children were among the nine people killed during the weekend in a flash flood at a swimming hole in Arizona’s Tonto National Forest, and all were part of an extended family, authorities said Monday. Three generations of the family were gathered Saturday afternoon at the swimming spot about 100 miles northeast of Phoenix, police said....."Tragic.

"In Arizona, a helicopter rescued hikers clinging to tree branches and perched on boulders as fast-moving floodwaters tore through a normally quiet creek. Seventeen hikers got stranded Sunday in a scenic canyon on the outskirts of Tucson, just over a week after a flash floodkilled 10 members of an extended family more than 140 miles to the north....."

"Twenty-one freight cars hauling coal from Wyoming derailed in South Texas as temperatures reached the triple digits, officials said. Some coal spilled, but crews were continuing to clean up the area late Monday and expected the work to continue for days. In Irving, Texas, last week, 11 cars of a Dallas, Garland & Northeastern freight train derailed in the city’s downtown Irving late Tuesday night, but there were no injuries....."That's why we need pipelines, or should we abort those?

A final vote on whether to extend for another decade California’s cap-and-trade program has global implications as the largest US state moves to be a leader in reducing carbon emissions and President Trump pulls backfrom fighting global warming.

Brown portrays the plan as essential for the survival of civilization, but critics say it fails to aggressively combat pollution. It is one of his highest priorities as he nears the end of his fourth term, but he has struggled to line up the support he needs from two-thirds of lawmakers.I'm sick of the hyperbole when there are more immediate threats at hand.

The program ends in 2020 if lawmakers don’t renew it. The Senate backed it 28-12.

In the Assembly, 54 votes are needed to pass it, but Democrats had only 53 members present. That makes Republican support essential.

But the governor’s plan has mobilized intense opposition from conservatives, who say it will raise costs in an already expensive state, as well as from liberals, who say it’s too timid for progressive California.

Brown sounded an apocalyptic tone in a rare personal appeal before a Senate committee last week, saying that failing to pass the extension would lead to fires, disease, and mass migration, not to mention higher prices for food and gasoline.There he goes again.

Environmental groups and business interests echo Brown’s refrain that cap-and-trade is the most affordable way to meet the state’s climate goals.

Cap-and-trade puts a limit on carbon emissions and requires polluters to obtain permits to release greenhouse gases. Some permits, or allowances, are given away; others are auctioned, generating billions of dollars for the state.As I thought, a $elf-$erving agenda at bottom.

Lawmakers are considering a two-measure package, one to renew cap-and-trade through 2030 and another aimed at improving local air quality.

Republicans introduced a plan to require a one-time supermajority vote to spend revenue from cap-and-trade pollution permits collected after 2023, which could give the party more of a voice in the future.

State law requires California to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2030 — among the most aggressive mandates for carbon reduction in the world.

Without cap-and-trade, regulators will be forced to enact restrictions on polluters that would be burdensome for businesses and more expensive for consumers, Brown said.

The legislation shows the division between environmentalists who focus on reducing global carbon emissions and advocates who work locally. The latter group says cap-and- trade lets polluters keep fouling the air around big sources of pollution, like refineries.

Some advocates object to concessions Brown made to the oil industry and other polluters in a bid to win support from Republicans and moderate Democrats. And some lawmakers question why Brown urgently wants to extend a program that doesn’t expire for another 2½ years. Brown says extending it now would give businesses the certainty they need to plan.

Brown made a trip to China last month, plans to attend a climate summit in Germany in November, and will host a climate conference next year in San Francisco.And what is the hypocritical carbon footprint on all that?

Environmental critics of Brown’s plan called on Democrats to craft a more liberal alternative. They said Brown’s plan is too friendly to the oil industry and is not aggressive enough to save the planet from climate change.

"Despite the air district’s efforts, the valley’s air still violates federal standards for sooty pollution that comes from industry, businesses, and vehicles. In California, where Democratic Governor Jerry Brown is an outspoken leader in the global fight against climate change, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District now is waging a very public campaign against enforcement of the landmark US Clean Air Act that includes ever-tightening air quality standards the district says it cannot meet. Officials in the relatively conservative region have seized upon the election of Donald Trump, who won the popular vote in half of the district’s eight counties in November — a far stronger performance than in most of California. District executive director Seyed Sadredin also reached out to Bakersfield Republican Kevin McCarthy, the GOP’s US House majority leader and....."

What I will never get out of my head is the glass of water in front of him as he issued the drought warning. Every time he opens his mouth he makes the problem worse.

WASHINGTON — Industry has made more than 9.1 billion tons of plastic since 1950 and there’s enough left over to bury Manhattan under more than 2 miles of trash, according to a new global study.

Plastics don’t break down like other human-made materials, so three-quarters of the stuff ends up as waste in landfills, littered on land, and floating in oceans, lakes, and rivers, according to the research reported in Wednesday’s journal Science Advances .

‘‘At the current rate, we are really heading toward a plastic planet,’’ said study lead author Roland Geyer, an industrial ecologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara.Good thing it will be dominated by AI.

The plastics boom started after World War II, and now plastics are everywhere. They are used in packaging like plastic bottles and consumer goods like cellphones and refrigerators. They are in pipes and other construction material. They are in cars and clothing, usually as polyester.Comes from oil, and consumption is the foundation of the economic $y$tem.

China makes the most plastic, followed by Europe and North America....Yeah, it's China's fault everyone moved their factories there.

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